¹ Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh to you, O house of Israel!

² Thus saith Jehovah: Conform ye not to the way of the heathen, And be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, Because the heathen are dismayed at them!

³ The customs of the nations are vanity. For a tree of the wood is cut down, It is wrought by the hands of the artificer with the axe,

⁴ It is decked with silver and gold, And with nails and with hammers is it fastened, That it may not totter.

⁵ They are like a turned palm-tree pillar, and cannot speak; They must be borne by men, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot hurt, Nor is it in their power to do good.

⁶ There is none like thee, O Jehovah! Thou art great, And great is thy name by mighty deeds.

⁷ Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations, For to thee doth it belong! For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, there is none like thee.

⁸ They are all brutish and without understanding; A doctrine of vanities is the stock.

⁹ Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of the artificer and the founder; Blue and purple is their clothing; The work of the skilful is it all.

¹⁰ But Jehovah is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king; At his wrath the earth trembleth, And the nations are not able to abide his indignation.

¹¹ [Thus shall ye say to them: The gods, that have not made the heavens and the earth, Shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.]

¹² He made the earth by his power; He established the world by his wisdom, And by his understanding he spread out the heavens.

¹³ When he uttereth his voice there is an abundance of water in the heavens; He causeth clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings with rain; He bringeth the wind from his storehouses.

¹⁴ Brutish is every one who hath not this knowledge; By his image is every founder put to shame, For his molten-work is deceit; There is no breath in it.

¹⁵ They are vanity, deceptive work; In the time of their punishment shall they perish.

¹⁶ Not like them is He who is the portion of Jacob; He is the former of all things, And Israel is his allotted inheritance; Jehovah of hosts is his name.

¹⁷ Gather up thy goods out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress!

¹⁸ For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will sling forth the inhabitants of the land at this time; I will distress them, so that they shall be taken.

¹⁹ "Ah me! my wound!" [saith the daughter of Zion;] "My bruise is deadly; Yet I say, This is my affliction, and I must bear it!

²⁰ My tent is torn down, And all my cords broken. My children are gone forth from me, and are no more; There is none to stretch forth my tent any more, Or to set up my curtains.

²¹ For the shepherds have become brutish; They have not sought Jehovah; Therefore have they not prospered, And all their flock is dispersed."

²² [Hark!] the sound of tiding! Behold it cometh, And a great tumult from the land of the North, To make the cities of Judah desolate, A dwelling-place for jackals.

²³ "I know, O Jehovah, that the way of a man is not within his power, That it is not within the power of a man that walketh to establish his steps.

²⁴ Chasten me, O Jehovah, but in measure; Not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing!

²⁵ Pour out thy wrath on the nations which acknowledge thee not, And on the kingdoms which call not on thy name! For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured and consumed him, And laid waste his dwelling-place."